China’s
smartphone makers are drafting in cricket teams and Bollywood stars to
conquer India, their largest overseas market and a key testing ground
for their international expansion, as they try to rebrand as more than
just sellers of cheap handsets.
Xiaomi
Technology – the fast-growing No.3 global smartphone maker valued at
$45 billion after a December funding round – hosted its first global
launch outside of China in New Delhi on Thursday, unveiling its
feature-heavy Mi 4i model that supports six Indian languages at 12,999
rupees ($205).
“It
speaks volumes to our focus on India, our intentions, and (is about)
really putting our investment where we believe the future of the company
is,” Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s vice president of international operations,
said.
And
they are not alone. Manufacturers including Gionee, Huawei Technologies
and Lenovo are trying out new retail strategies, marketing plans and
research for devices in India, as they look to push into new markets.
Huawei
and Gionee, for instance, are sponsoring franchises in the Indian
Premier League, a wildly popular cricket tournament, while Lenovo and
Oppo have adverts featuring movie heartthrobs Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik
Roshan as they try to build brand appeal among ordinary Indians.
India
is the world’s third-largest smartphone market, but with just one in 10
people using such handsets still has huge growth potential. Chinese
smartphone makers are in many cases unknown outside India’s larger
cities, but they are beginning to win market share from better known
rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and even homegrown Micromax,
which in the fourth quarter became the country’s leading handset
supplier.
With
growth saturating at home, companies from China and Taiwan have either
entered or ramped up India operations over the past year. Six were among
the top 20 smartphone vendors in the December quarter.
Based
on shipments data tracked by research firm Canalys, the top five
Chinese smartphone companies and Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc together
accounted for 13 percent of shipments in the period.
SALES PLANS
Fast
growth and cut-throat competition has forced the new Chinese entrants
to intensify their sales push, adapting plans previously tried out in
China to suit local customers.
Xiaomi,
a five-year-old company known as China’s Apple, entered India in July
last year through a tie-up with online retailer Flipkart. It later
partnered a leading electronics retail chain with a pan-India presence
to boost its sales.
Arvind
Vohra, head of Chinese manufacturer Gionee’s India operations said,
said he was focused on physical distribution, and would only then go
online. Gionee sold 4 million devices and made almost $500 million in
sales in the year ended March.
“There
was a huge challenge with the stigma attached to Chinese brands
initially,” said Rushabh Doshi, a Singapore-based analyst at research
firm Canalys.
“A
lot of new vendors are testing out online retail first, trying to see
if the brand is picking up in India and then ramping up their operations
based on the feedback they get from the consumer base.”
Industry
watchers say that now a focus on research and local production will
help Chinese firms offer high-end features at low cost, positioning them
well in a market that will grow at around 36 percent a year over the
next five years, according to consulting firm Zinnov.
Gionee,
which was among the first Chinese device makers to enter India, has
1,200 employees working on R&D and expects to set up a manufacturing
base in India.
For
Xiaomi, the research on the processor used in the Mi 4i was led by a
team in Bengaluru. The company could also make the phone locally once it
sets up a manufacturing presence here, Barra said.
“(The
Mi 4i) is not a Chinese design that is imported to India, this is a
product that is designed with this market in mind,” he said.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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